Camulodunum

Colchester stands on the River Colne in Essex. Its name comes from Camulodunum, the Roman town built where an Iron Age fortress once stood. The Romans made it their first capital in Britain after Claudius’s invasion. Before them, the Trinovantes and Catuvellauni tribes ruled from here. Coins from the first century BC show its early importance under kings like Addedomarus and Cunobelinus. The town reached its height in the second and third centuries. It had Britain’s largest theatre, a chariot circus, and the country’s first town walls. A great classical temple stood at its centre. Over fifty mosaics and tessellated floors have been found beneath later buildings. At its peak, the population may have been thirty thousand. Visitors walk through streets that follow the Roman grid. The Balkerne Gate, part of the old walls, still stands near the town centre. The Gosbecks farmstead shows where tribal leaders lived before the Romans came. Excavations at Sheepen reveal an Iron Age port where iron, leather and coins were made. The Lexden tumulus marks the graves of early rulers, filled with imported treasures.